Monday, 29 February 2016

TL;DR: The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is out now. This latest model includes 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex A53 running at 1.2 GHz. It’s a usable desktop computer. Available now at the usual Pi retailers for $35.

News of the latest Raspberry Pi swept around the Internet like wildfire this last weekend, thanks to a published FCC docs showing a Pi with on-board WiFi and Bluetooth. While we thank the dozens of Hackaday readers that wrote in to tell us about the leaked FCC documents, our lips have been sealed until now. We’ve been …read more

Friday, 26 February 2016

When I read about MasterCard's plan to do selfie security with purchases, I wondered what the first massive breach of biometric data is going to look like. Unlike passwords, biometrics such as face mapping, fingerprints, and iris scans can't be changed when a database gets popped. Worse, having that data sold to marketers or snarfed into an authoritarian database isn't revokable. Manny the cat would not approve.

Fortunately, MasterCard isn't going to be replacing the password or pin with selfies, but instead wants to make its "Selfie Pay" app part of a two-step security routine when purchases are made or money is withdrawn. MasterCard says users will be required to blink for the app to demonstrate it's a live image. The company plans to roll it out in the US, Canada, the U.K. and a few European countries by this summer.

"Selfie Pay" was first aimed at MasterCard's millennial customers when announced in July, 2015. Ajay Bhalla, MasterCard's President of Enterprise Security Solutions, told press it would be a way for the company to engage with young people. He added, "The new generation, which is into selfies ... I think they'll find it cool. They'll embrace it."

Reassuringly, college students reacted to Mr. Bhalla's remarks with an appropriate amount of skepticism and mistrust. I just hope everyone in Bhalla's security chain "is into" encryption as much as selfies.

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We can yell "encrypt or GTFO" at MasterCard all we want, and it won't change our other big problem with all of this: The breach that comes from within. Meaning, when companies sell our personal data in backroom deals to greedy brokers, or let it get siphoned into government databases behind the scenes.

Welcome to the entirely messed-up, behind-the-scenes free-for-all of facial recognition technology in the private sector. There is nothing preventing private entities (businesses, app developers, data brokers, or advertisers) from selling, trading, or otherwise profiting from an individual's biometric information. Distressingly, the US government has only gotten as far as a working group to develop rules around companies using facial recognition. Voluntary rules, that is.

This gets super worrying when you consider that there are companies hell-bent on using every scrap of user data for profit who are pouring money into making facial recognition both accurate and ubiquitous. Like Facebook, whose "DeepFace" project will most likely commingle with its billion-user rich stash of identified photos. Even though its name is a facepalm, DeepFace's ability to identify dissidents someone by photo alone is up to a remarkable 97% accuracy.

Entities like Facebook are a great example of where facial recognition and data monetization are coming together in ways that are troubling. In fact, Facebook has been using facial recognition to increase the worth of its data since at least 2011 -- when the Electronic Privacy Information Center appealed to the FTC to "specifically prohibit the use of Facebook's biometric image database by any law enforcement agency in the world, absent a showing of adequate legal process, consistent with international human rights norms."

#NoFilter surveillance

EPIC isn't alone in its worries about protecting consumers from facial recognition databases. At a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing in 2012, Senator Al Franken remarked that, "Facebook may have created the world's largest privately held database of face prints without the explicit knowledge of its users."

Franken continued, linking the deficits in consumer protections with the FBI's then-new facial-recognition program designed to identify people of interest called Next Generation Identification (NGI). "The FBI pilot could be abused to not only identify protesters at political events and rallies, but to target them for selective jailing and prosecution, stifling their First Amendment rights," he said. NGI became fully operational in 2014.

MasterCard's Ajay Bhalla probably wasn't thinking about that when he was trying to get down with the kids. He probably also doesn't know that Selfie Pay might cross-match and compare really well with commercial surveillance products like TrapWire, which is sold to and implemented by private entities, the US Government "and its allies overseas."

TrapWire combines various intel surveillance technologies with tracking and location data, individual profile histories from various sources (datamining and social media), and image data analysis (such as facial recognition; TrapWire's video component) to monitor people under the guise of threat detection.

Upon the 2012 release of Wikileaks' Stratfor documents, news about TrapWire and sibling surveillance technologies (like Europe's INDECT) were met with surprise, fear, outrage, and protests. A significant number of TrapWire and INDECT's opponents believe the surveillance systems to be direct threats to privacy, civil freedoms and that their implementation could constitute human rights violations.

MasterCard's Selfie Pay will very likely be opening the door to consumer level biometric security, and if done properly, that could be a really good thing. I just hope the methods of storing and protecting this data are as shrewd and clever as the people profiting off it by passing it around in the background.

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

In what has to be the most obvious acquisition Microsoft has made in some time, today the Redmond company announced that they have signed an agreement to purchase Xamarin.

Xamarin creates tools to allow mobile developers to write code in C#, and have it run as native code on iOS, Android, and Windows. This lets the developer use Visual Studio and keep one set of source code but have it run on all of the mobile platforms.

Microsoft has been closely tied to Xamarin for some time, and have built in support for Xamarin into Visual Studio, Azure, Office 365, and their Enterprise Mobility Suite already, so really it seemed like this purchase was only a matter of when. Microsoft is acquiring the personnel in addition to the intellectual property of Xamarin and we should likely hear a lot more about their plans at Microsoft’s developer conference Build, which takes place the last week of March.

At Build 2015, Microsoft introduced “bridges” which would let developers on iOS and Android be able to port their apps to Windows 10’s Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app framework, with Microsoft demonstrating support for Objective-C code within Visual Studio and having it compile directly into native UWP code, with the iOS bridge codenamed project Islandwood. The Android solution was quite different, and project Astoria would have Windows 10 Mobile actually have an Android subsystem so that it could run apps written for Android. Although Astoria was released as a limited beta, it appears that this has been axed by Microsoft, although Islandwood is still moving forward and is currently in preview form on GitHub.

Xamarin is almost the exact opposite. Instead of trying to have developers port to Windows, instead they would be able to write in C# for Windows, and the Xamarin tools provide native APIs for iOS and Android and output code for those platforms, allowing a large amount of common code for apps developed for iOS, Android, and Windows.

We should learn more about this at Build though. The Xamarin tools should be a focal point during their announcements at the end of March.

Baidu, like Google, is much more than a search giant. Sure, Baidu, with a $50 billion market cap, is the most popular search engine in China. But it’s also one of the most innovative technology companies on the planet. Also like Google, Baidu is exploring autonomous vehicles and has major ...

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Looking for a free installable Windows alternative? Jide Technology’s Remix OS 2.0 produces an Android-based operating system for desktops and laptops – it’s not yet ready for prime time, but the preview is terrifying – for Microsoft. Many of today’s Linux-based systems, like Android and Ubuntu, suffer from limitations. Ubuntu’s software library isn’t comparable to Windows and Android can’t install onto a computer. Remix creates a bridge between the two systems by combining Android’s titanic app library with a desktop Graphical User Interface. Another major coup: Remix OS runs lightning fast on low-end hardware, making it suitable for netbooks (what’s a...

Saturday, 20 February 2016

MJML is a markup language designed to reduce the pain of coding a responsive email. Its semantic syntax makes it easy and straightforward while its rich standard components library fastens your development time and lightens your email codebase. MJML’s open-source engine takes care of translating the MJML you wrote into responsive HTML. Requirements: – Demo: […]

Friday, 19 February 2016

In the lead up to MWC, we've heard plenty of rumors about the LG G5 and its swappable accessories. The general idea is that you'll be able to slide out the bottom of the phone and replace it with some fresh or scenario-specific hardware. Now, we're starting to see exactly what those modules will look like. A photo on the Chinese site Weibo reveals a battery accessory with a bright, yellow cell. So when you're starting to near the red, you'll presumably be able to swap your battery out like a firearm magazine.

Another image, this time leaked to Android Authority, shows a bulbous attachment with a couple of dials and buttons on the outer edge. It's a blurry photo, but notorious smartphone leaker Evan Blass claims it's a camera accessory called the LG Cam Plus. Along with a comfier grip, the module reportedly adds an extra 1100mAh battery and buttons that can act as a shutter release and other traditional camera controls.

Image Credit: Android Authority

What we know for sure is threefold. Firstly, the device will be revealed on February 21st. Secondly, it'll feature an "always on" display that puts a smattering of information on your lock screen. Finally, there will be an optional Quick Cover that provides a window to the display and some touch-enabled features, such as taking calls and dismissing alarms.

The swappable accessory idea, which seems all but certain now, is a brave idea that should make the G5 stand out from its Android rivals. Whether customers have been clamouring for such a level of hardware customisation is another matter entirely, however.

[Daniel Norée] started the OpenR/C project back in 2012 when he bought a Thing-O-Matic. In search of a project to test out his new printer, he set his sights on a remote controlled car, which as he put it,”… seemed like the perfect candidate, as it presents a lot of challenges with somewhat intricate moving parts along with the need for a certain level of precision and durability.”

After releasing his second design, the OpenR/C Truggy, he realized a community was forming around this idea, and needed a place to communicate. So, he created a Google+ group. Today, the …read more

Increased use of big data in IT management and other areas means that companies are on the look out for new tools to give them better insights from their information. Behavioral analytics company Prelert is making it easier for Elasticsearch users to automate the analysis of large data sets with the launch of Behavioral Analytics for the Elastic Stack. It's powered by Prelert's machine learning algorithms and capabilities, which have been proven in the company’s other analytics products including its widely deployed Anomaly Detective solution. Prelert’s analytics create accurate, always up-to-date statistical baselines of normal behaviors. From these baselines the… [Continue Reading]

The closure of Netflix's last data center might not be news, but who's picking up the slack on the outside might be. The firm has revealed that it's now moved its entire online business to Amazon Web Services, the retailer's cloud computing division. In a blog post, Netflix VP Yury Izrailevsky reveals that Netflix began closing its homegrown data centers back in 2008 after a server issue brought the (then) DVD-rental business to its knees for three days. Since then, it's been slowly moving over to Amazon's world-renowned servers which offer far more power, scale and reliability.

By this point, you're probably shouting at your screen wondering when we're going to mention the elephant in the room. Amazon, of course, owns AWS, but also has its own competing video streaming service that's trying to beat Netflix into the dust. First up, Netflix's success is Amazon's as well, with the former encouraging people to ditch cable, which Amazon can piggy-back onto into people's homes. Secondly, the company must be making some serious bank from Netflix's vast user base, so it's win-win for Jeff Bezos.

It's not as if we haven't seen co-operation like this from other tech companies, either, with Samsung both a rival to Apple and also one of its key supply partners. Same goes for Samsung's relationship with Qualcomm, since both are competing chip manufacturers, but the former also helps the latter build its hardware. Then there's Sony, which sells its smartphone image sensors to plenty of other businesses in the smartphone pantheon. Yeah, folks, co-operation and loving thy neighbor is all the rage, and long may peace and love reign throughout the world.

Monday, 8 February 2016

Docker is reportedly going to be migrating all of their official images from an Ubuntu base to now using Alpine Linux.

Alpine Linux is the lightweight distribution built atop musl libc and BusyBox while using a GrSecurity-enhanced Linux kernel. Alpine Linux uses OpenRC as its init system. If you are unfamiliar with this "Small. Simple. Secure." distribution, you can learn more via AlpineLinux.org. The image for Alpine is a mere 5MB.

It's no secret that LG has something planned for Mobile World Congress this month (it mentioned an event weeks ago), but the Korean tech giant is now making it clear as to what's up. It's posting teasers confirming a G5 unveiling just ahead of MWC, on February 21st. Yes, that's the same day that Samsung announces the Galaxy S7 -- unlike last year, LG isn't waiting until sometime after the big mobile trade show to debut its latest flagship smartphone.

The company is shy on details right now, although history suggests that it'll dribble out facts to whet your appetite. That isn't stopping the rumor mill, though. Historically reliable leaker Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) hears that the G5 may borrow a few pages from the V10, including a secondary display, a fingerprint reader and a dual-lens camera (this time, on the back). You might also get a speedier Snapdragon 820 processor, an "all-metal" enclosure and a "Magic Slot" that alters your phone's functionality through modules. If this is accurate, the G5 definitely won't be a me-too device.

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

The innovative, time-based shooter Superhot has had a long, unusual road to completion -- it started out as a clever idea at a game jam, got off the ground through a successful crowdfunding campaign and built up tremendous hype through pre-release copies and countless "let's play" videos. At last, though, it's nearly here. The team has revealed that Superhot will be available on Linux, Mac and Windows PCs on February 25th. You can pre-order it at $14 for the regular Steam version, and $25 if you'd also like the soundtrack and a PDF art book. Xbox One gamers can buy the game sometime in the next few weeks.

If you'll recall, the buzz around Superhot comes from its turning the conventional first-person shooter formula on its head. Here, time only moves at normal speed when you move -- the challenge isn't so much dodging the hail of bullets as planning a route that won't box you into a corner. You also have one very fragile life, no power-ups and limited ammo (basically, whatever is in the guns you find). When you combine those with highly stylized graphics and a fourth-wall-breaking story, you get an experience that promises to be a breath of fresh air in a frequently stale genre.